Jimmy Osmond, photographed at his home for the London Sunday Times.
This job was great fun to shoot. Last year, Jimmy was on a cooking show in the UK, so the Sunday Times wanted him pictured with one of his favorite meals. We arrived at his house and were welcomed in by Jimmy who was gracious, friendly, and funny. And after the shoot was over, he even helped me carry my gear out to my car. Now, that's a classy move.
Photo by Spencer Heaps
About 8 months ago, Derrick Clemments and Court Mann, a couple of cool guys, a couple of writers from Provo's Daily Herald started a podcast, talking about the city of Provo, it's people, and the arts. I was honored to be their first guest on their very first show. Thanks for having me on, fellows! If you care to listen to the episode, it's below.
Since then, they've had a string of smart, clever, interesting guests, including the mayor, Cjane Kendrick, Mallory Everton and Jeremy Warner from Studio C, Tyler Glenn from Neon Trees, and others.
Their site is here, if you want to see their full lineup so far.
And here's a fun fact. At the time, Derrick Clements was not married, but got engaged shortly after the interview. And after interviewing me about my process, why I'm a photographer, and how I approach weddings, he hired me to photograph his own wedding. Court, you're next, buddy.
I like outtakes. For me, they are pictures that don't work, but then, on some level, they do. Maybe they just didn't fit the intended purpose, but there's still something interesting (strange? compelling? unanswered?) at which to look.
Here are a handful of images from 2016 I didn't show the client. But I didn't get rid of them, either.
Click on any image to view it larger.
I collected these as I was reviewing my favorite images from 2016. I'll be posting those pretty soon.
Christine Durhman, associate justice on Utah's Supreme Court, photographed at her office, The Matheson Courthouse, for Dialogue Magazine.
Here's Emily + Eric, they're married, now, but they weren't when I took these pictures. I'll post some of their wedding pictures soon.
Best voice in the world, Brooke White.
Photographed at my studio in downtown Provo.
Here's the vow renewal ceremony of Sherrod and Emily in Bakersfield, California.
One the best parts about being a wedding photographer is witnessing the happiest days in someone's life. I leave the event feeling good about the world, about life, and love.
Emily and Sherrod's vow renewal ceremony felt just like that, except newlyweds often have no idea what they're getting into and have a wonderfully optimistic, yet untested sense of hope. Emily and Sherrod, on the other hand, after being married for 20 years, knew just what that marriage road looked like, and they loved what they saw. The whole event was very inspiring.
(Click any image to view it larger)
The best vendors were involved, of course.
Flowers: Amanda, from House of Flowers
Band: Lonely Avenue
Caterer and Event Location: The Padre Hotel
Event Planner: Cassandra from The Fairy Godmother
Cake: Anamie Mahanke
Photograph of Rexburg, Idaho on December 31, 2016.
Marlin Jensen, photographed for Dialogue Magazine.
Just as beautiful and kind as she is funny, here's Mallory Everton from Studio C.
This might be my favorite Studio C sketch of all time.
Mackenzie and Dylan wanted to get married in the mountains. Mackenzie's family cabin seemed an ideal spot, and getting married in September would be an ideal time. So, it was quite a surprise when Mackenzie woke up on the morning of her wedding to see snow on the ground. No problem, they decided, they'd just scramble and get everything ready to have a party inside. Then the power went out. A family member drove into town and picked up a couple generators. Mackenzie took it all in stride, and by the time I arrived, was laughing that classic Mackenzie laugh. And by the time the group pictures were taken, about 30 minutes before most of the guests arrived, the power came back on.
Oh, sure there were a few hitches along the way, but mostly, it was a perfect wedding. Certainly memorable.
It looked a little something like this. (Click any image to view it larger)
Bikes play a pretty big role in how Austin and Elise met. The first time he saw her, she was stopped, trying to fix her broken bike. He knows a little something about bikes (he started and runs the Provo Bike Collective, after all) and stopped to help, to see what he could do. He fixed her bike, but more importantly, got her number. They subsequently started going on bike rides, fell in love, and got engaged.
Meet Austin and Elise.
I was in Bakersfield for a couple days this week to photograph a vow renewal ceremony. (More on that, later). I had some time to walk around, just to see what I could see. It's one of my favorite ways to pass some time in a new town. Reminds me of this quote by Robert Adams. "No place is boring if you had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film."
Bakersfield environs
Kern County Fair, Bakersfield, CA
Kern County Fair, Bakersfield, CA
I photographed two weddings last week. Both, originally intended for outside. After all, it is still September. But, cold weather forced a change on the days of both weddings. Here's a photograph from my friend and former UVU student, Mackenzie's wedding. I'll post more from this happy day once I have them all edited.
Today is the first day of fall and it’s raining outside.
I have the back door open so I can hear the thunder. It seems like a good night to have a cup of tea and watch a good movie, but there are photos to edit. I love what I do, but it sure would be nice to just sit here and listen to the rain.
Amy was gone for a couple days for a women’s conference with friends. I stayed home with the boys. The first day did not go so great. I was too harsh when they took too long to clean the front room and also when they didn’t do a very good job cleaning the front room, and then again for their resistance when I told them to go back and clean the front room. You gotta pick your battles, they say, and I don’t want to stand my ground on having a clean front room at the expense of souring our relationship. Lesson learned.
Today went far better. I kept telling myself love was the most important thing. Love was the answer. Then I drove to the market and bought some ingredients for each boy to make their own pizza for lunch. After yesterday, I was going for father of the year, but have you ever made your own pizzas? We could go out for pizza every night for a week for the amount of money I spent for lunch. The pizzas were good, though, and they boys were pleased as punch about getting to make their own pizzas, and they loved me, again, and man, you can’t put a price on that. Oh, wait. Yes you can. $70.
Two days ago it was 85 degrees. Tomorrow it will be 50 degrees and raining. But I didn’t have a wedding to photograph two days ago, and I do tomorrow. That’s the way it goes, I guess, unless you live in Southern California. Rain and 50. After all, today is the first day of fall.
One of the best things about working as a photographer is the people you get to meet, hang around, associate with.
Back in the early 19...well, a long time ago, I worked for company in Salt Lake called Gastronomy and one of the coolest people in the world was my boss, Mr. Jeff Gochnour. As a boss, he was fair, funny, honest, a good example of how far hard work can get you, and a thousand other worthy ideals.
After leaving the company, I never really saw him or heard from him, but last year, he was a guest at a wedding I was photographing. He said he was following me on Instagram and wanted me to photograph his family.
It was an honor for me to photograph the family of someone I admire so much, and after being around his kids, it's obvious that all the things I like about Jeff are rubbing off on his offspring.
Meet the Gochnour family.
Justin Hackworth photographs blasts from the past, former bosses, happy families, and he wants to photograph you. Interested? Let's talk!
Film images scanned and developed at Alpine Film Lab.
Clint + Olivia got married last week and I'm be looking forward to posting some of their wedding pictures. In the mean time, here are pictures we did a month or two ago when they were engaged. Some were taken at my studio in Provo, some were taken in Provo Canyon.
Meet Clint and Oliva.
